Flock is the exciting new project that brings together a golden lineup of UK jazz stalwarts: Bex Burch (Vula Viel), Danalogue (The Comet Is Coming, Soccer96), Sarathy Korwar, Al MacSween (Maisha) and Tamar Osborn (Collocutor). All involved in an array of phenomenal adventurous projects, they first got together for a Boiler Room, TRC and Night Dreamer streamed session during lockdown. The session attracted the interest of Strut Records who prompted them to create a new project and in summer 2020, the five musicians got together to record at The Fish Factory in London. Burch comments:

“I had been working solo, shedding my own preconceptions about my music, and simply sitting at my instrument asking myself, ‘what music do I like today?’ I wanted to share this process in a room with the others. Everyone was really busy and I had some time so I reflected on what framework that needed. I wrote texts as scores for the session and knew the emphasis needed to be on breathing and listening to each other. On the day, we sat in a circle, Sarathy and Dan led 30 breaths together and I chose a text for each play. It was a really magical day. Everyone was just so open.”

She continues:

“Improvisation is composition in itself, so although the music was freely improvised, we sometimes chose to stay on form and rhythm, repeating melodies and groove. As Dan commented on the day, we ‘murmurated’ and that’s how the name Flock came into being. The expansive 13-minute piece ‘How Many Are One’ on the album is the perfect example. It was like a flock of birds following an energy that already existed. A collective following and leading as the music developed.”

Lucky for us Flock are releasing a self-titled debut album on May 20th through Strut and we can already hear the wondrous and absorbing opening track, ‘Expand’. The single is offered with a visual accompaniment animated by Kai-Luen Liang.